How Is Your Love Life?
by EmZ711
Summary: It was likely that Finn would be slightly irritated when he found out that she was hanging out with Jesse St. James, but it's not like they were gonna be doing anything inappropriate, right? Wrong.


**Hey! EmZ711 back and kickin'! Fear not, fans of AttS, I'm almost done with the next chapter. I'll be explaining a few things in the A/N of it, so yeah. Be waiting for that. :P**

**This, my friends, is my first future fic! :3**

**Summary: Rachel bit her lip in contemplation. It was likely that Finn would be slightly pissed when he found out that she was hanging out with Jesse St. James, but it's not like they were gonna be doing anything inappropriate, right? Wrong.**

**Warnings: Occasional language and scenes of a slight sexual nature. The rating may change to M as the story progresses.**

** Enjoy! :D**

** DISCLAIMER: 'Sup? I'm Ryan Murphy. Lawlz, jk. I don't own anything. :)**

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_**Chapter One**_

Rachel Barbra Berry was pretty sure she had an unhealthy obsession. About a block off campus was this spectacular little café that served just about the best soy lattes that she had ever had the pleasure of tasting. You might say it's dumb to spend three dollars every day on a latte, but Rachel would disagree; partly because her dads still sent her money every month so she could wait until she was done at NYADA to get a job. They wanted her to be focused solely on her schoolwork so she could graduate at the top of her class.

She and Finn were sharing an apartment not too far away. It was tiny of course, and cost about two thousand dollars a month, but with her dads both being successful divorce lawyers, it wasn't much of a problem. Finn had also picked up a job at a mechanics shop just three blocks down from their shoebox to earn money for them as well. All in all things were working out fine.

It was fairly hard to spend time with Finn anymore though. He worked from two to nine pm, and between those times was when she usually got home. She was becoming more and more lonely, and multiple times she had tried to talk him into asking if he could change his hours. His response was always, "I'm lucky enough I got the job, Rach. I can't be picky about when I work."

So Rachel stayed lonely, because when he got back he was always too tired to do anything more than scarf down a sandwich and go to sleep while his re-inducted fiancé studied until 11:30 at night.

Today Rachel was happy though. It was the last day before Christmas break and she'd just gotten out of her Scenic Design class (one that she wasn't particularly fond of, yet still excelled in), and was now headed over to her little café. It had gotten to the point where most of the workers knew her name; after all, she was junior now, and she'd been coming since she was a freshman.

"Hey, Tony," she smiled as she walked up to the counter.

Tony was the owner of the place; a nice, middle aged vegan man who appreciated the art of theatre almost as much as Rachel did. They'd gotten along right away, and in some senses, he'd become her best friend.

"Hey, Rach. Same as always?" he asked happily, already pulling out her favorite mug.

"Yes please," she smiled.

As she waited, she turned back to look at the occupants of the café; two college girls chatting over mochas, an old man reading the newspaper while sipping a mug of black coffee, a few other random patrons, then one that nearly made her heart stop.

Somewhere in her subconscious, Rachel knew she was bound to see Jesse St. James sometime again in the future. After all, they were both destined to be stars one day. It shouldn't have come as this much of surprise, but still she found herself hardly being able to tear her gaze from the curly haired man who was currently stationed at a corner table, open binder in front of him and mug in hand.

"Earth to Rachel," Tony said, waving a hand over her face. The brunette jumped slightly and turned back to him.

"Sorry," she said, pulling out a five dollar bill.

"What was that all about?" he asked, amused.

"That guy over there in the corner," she said quietly, "I dated him in high school."

Tony raised his eyebrows as he gathered her change, "You do realize how cliché that is, right?"

Rachel rolled her eyes, "My entire life is a cliché."

Tony laughed at that, handing her the change. She stuffed it back in her bag and grabbed her steaming mug of soy latte.

"I even put in an extra pinch of cinnamon," he smiled.

"Well thank you very much," Rachel said, bringing the cup up to blow on it.

"So are you gonna talk to him?"

"I don't know… The last time I did was before my last high school show choir competition," she told him.

"Damn, your life _is_ cliché."

Rachel sent him a look and he laughed causing a few of the patrons to look over at them. She was glad her back was turned. She didn't want to know whether or not Jesse had looked. When she turned back around though, he was in the same position as he was before.

"Well… I think I'll go and talk to him. What's the worst that could happen, right?" she asked.

Tony gave a nod, "I'll see you later, Rach."

She smiled and waved, then grabbed her cup and turned. Taking a deep breath she walked over to the table he was at.

"Jesse!" she smiled.

The man looked up, his eyes widening slightly in awe as he saw who was in front of him, "Rachel?"

The brunette set down her mug as he stood to hug her, "How are you?" she asked.

"I'm great," he smiled, "How are you?"

"I'm pretty good," she said, smile still on her face.

"Have a seat," he offered.

Rachel smiled, nodding and sitting down across from him. He hadn't changed much at all. He still sported the same lustrous hair, the crisp but casual style of dress. Rachel was glad. She didn't think she wanted to imagine him any other way than he had been in high school. The twenty year old couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy seep in at the thought of him possibly having a girlfriend. She didn't really have the right to be jealous though, did she? After all, she was the one who chose Finn over him in this very city all those years ago.

She'd chosen the "superman of kisses" over him; the kiss that had cost them Nationals; the kiss that had caused her to be able to see the hurt in Jesse's eyes. It wasn't something that just anyone could see. Collectively, in the time she and Jesse had spent together, he'd opened up things to her that he'd told no one else. She knew when he was sad, or angry, or happy, or any other emotion he ever happened to be. That day, looking into his eyes, she knew he wasn't really concerned about the kiss ruining their chances (although she knew he was right). She saw the hurt behind the beautiful blue orbs she'd become so accustomed to and it almost killed her.

"So what have you been up to lately?" he asked, pulling her from thoughts as he closed his binder and slid it into his bag.

"College," she answered with a laugh.

He nodded, chuckling along with her, "How's NYADA?"

"Wait… How do you-… How did you know I got into NYADA?"

"I spoke with Carmen Tibideux in Chicago," he said, taking a sip of coffee.

"You did?" she asked, "What did you say?"

He hesitated a moment before speaking again, "I told her that you were the most talented person I'd ever met."

"Jesse, that's… That's amazing. Thank you so much," she said sincerely. So _he'd _been one of the reasons they'd accepted her, "And what about you? What have you been up to?"

He smiled, "Rehearsals. For the revival of Spring Awakening. Well, not rehearsals exactly. They haven't found a Wendla yet. I've currently been memorizing lines. They've had me in the room for a couple auditions, but there hasn't been any girl good enough to capture the emotional depth of the character."

Rachel smiled, "Always the over-analyzer. Although, I should be talking, should I?"

He chuckled again, "No you should not. I still remember you spending half the night complaining about the Eponine that we saw perform at the Lima Community Theatre."

She nodded, laughing, "Well it's not my fault! You could tell she didn't understand the character of Eponine at all. Don't even deny it."

He held up his hands in defense, "I'm not denying anything," he laughed.

"Good," she nodded, trying not to break out into laughter.

Rachel was happy, if not slightly surprised as well, that it was this easy to talk to him. They talked for that brief time three years ago at Nationals, but after that she hadn't seen any sign of him. Despite how excited she had been for the New Direction's win, she couldn't help but feeling bad for Jesse. The fate of Vocal Adrenaline's dynasty had rested solely on him, and they'd only gone home with second place.

"What happened with Vocal Adrenaline?" she asked, taking a sip of her latte.

Jesse sighed, "I quit. I realized it wasn't what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, so I packed up and moved out here with the ridiculous amount of money my parents had in my bank account."

Rachel nodded, "Sorry for… you know… beating you."

He gave a soft chuckle and shook his head, "No, it's fine. I had a feeling we weren't gonna win anyways. The New Directions have much more soul than VA. They always have. Even with Unique they couldn't compare to you guys."

She smiled, "Do you know who took over?"

"I don't. I know they were planning on asking Shelby back, but I don't know how it played out in the end."

Rachel nodded, and a few moments later Jesse spoke again, "Are you still with Frankenteen?"

She rolled her eyes, a smile on her face, "His name is _Finn_. And yes, we are."

"How was the wedding?"

"There hasn't been a wedding. I mean… There was supposed to be a wedding, but on the way he detoured and took me to the train station and "set me free". He said he was gonna go into the army. A few months later he showed up on my doorstep saying they hadn't accepted him, or he didn't qualify or something. We got back together shortly after," she shrugged, twisting the engagement ring around her finger.

Jesse watched her for a moment before leaning forward slightly, "And is that what you want?"

Rachel looked down at the ring and shrugged again, "I don't know. I guess… I did before. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love him, I just… It's been hard. Our schedules conflict, and I've tried to get him to see if he could switch hours, but he won't. He says "beggars can't be choosers". I didn't even know he knew what that phrase meant. I guess I'm just… lonely, you know?"

He nodded, giving her a slight look of sympathy.

"Enough about me though. How is your love life?" she asked, dropping her left hand into her lap.

He leaned back, exhaling through his nose, "Nonexistent," he said with a slight laugh.

"I have a hard time believing that," she said, looking at him pointedly as she crossed one leg over the other.

"Oh yeah? Why is that?" he challenged, smiling.

"Well, you can sing, you can dance, you can act, and if I may say so myself, you're not too hard on the eyes," she smiled teasingly.

Jesse laughed, "I miss you, Rachel."

Rachel smiled, looking into his eyes, "I miss you too, Jesse."

The brunette glanced over at the clock on the wall and sighed, "Four. Time to go and study."

"Study? Didn't you just start your Christmas break? "

She shrugged, "I don't have anything else to do. Finn doesn't get home until nine. Probably later since it's winter. They're usually pretty busy."

"What does he even do?" Jesse asked.

"He works at a mechanic shop about a block away from our apartment."

Jesse almost failed in holding back a scoff, "He's getting pretty far in life."

"Jesse…"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. That was rude of me," he said.

Rachel raised her eyebrows, "Wow, I don't remember ever hearing the word 'sorry' come out of your mouth," she teased.

Jesse smiled and shook his head, "Listen, why don't you come back to my apartment with me? We can relax and watch some musicals until you have to go back to Finn."

Rachel bit her lip in contemplation. It was likely that Finn would be slightly pissed when he found out that she was hanging out with Jesse St. James, but it's not like they were gonna be doing anything inappropriate, right?

* * *

Wrong.

The moment she'd agreed, they'd packed up and left, and the moment they were safe inside his apartment, their lips were against each other's and he had her backed against the door.

Rachel hadn't remembered how nice it was to kiss him. His lips molded perfectly to hers, and she'd forgotten that due to the fact that she'd been kissing Finn for the past four years.

Oh God, Finn…

"Jesse," she murmured against his lips as his arms circled around her thin waist, "We can't do this."

"Why not," he asked, his lips now trailing down her smooth and slender neck.

"Finn…" she sighed. Truthfully, though, she didn't want to quit. Rachel couldn't stop the sparks of electricity that were running through her body when he kissed her, or the fact that she could feel herself getting wetter every time his lips pressed tenderly against her neck.

"Rachel, I can tell you don't want to stop," he murmured against her collarbone. She couldn't argue.

Forty-five minutes later, they were naked in his bed, sweat coating their bodies in a thin sheen. He held her against him, his fingers tracing gentle patterns into the bare, smooth skin of her back.

"You're beautiful," he said softly into her brown tresses.

Rachel smiled, pressing a kiss against his chest, "You're handsome."

They laid in silence for several minutes, Rachel's mind going over and over what had just transpired. She'd had sex… No… That sounded vulgar. She'd _made love_ to Jesse St. James. And she was _engaged _to Finn Hudson. She'd _cheated_. She was a_ cheater._ Sure she felt bad, but something about being with Jesse was just… right. Should she tell Finn? No… It'd hurt him too bad, and she knew it.

Rachel Berry was seriously conflicted.

"What's gonna happen?" she asked quietly after ten minutes of comfortable silence.

"Hm?" he questioned, still tracing patterns against her skin.

"I'm engaged, Jesse. I just… I don't know. Being with you was wonderful, don't get me wrong, I just…" she sighed.

"Shh," he whispered, stroking a piece of hair behind her ear, "We'll figure it out later. Right now I want to get dressed and curl up on the couch with this beautiful woman in my apartment so we can watch _Funny Girl_."

Rachel smiled gently as his thumb brushed her cheekbone, his lips finding hers to kiss her sweetly.

* * *

Getting home that night wasn't a treat. Not because Finn was mad, but because of the guilt she felt when she walked into their room to see him sleeping peacefully; blissfully unaware of what his fiancé had been doing with another man earlier. But was Jesse _really_ just "another man"?

Rachel sighed and walked into the bathroom, leaning with her hands on the sink and looking into the mirror. She still loved Jesse. Today had made her realize that. She'd loved him ever since her sophomore year of high school, despite what he'd done with the eggs and what not. She couldn't really play victim in their relationship though, could she? She'd done her fair share, from the _Run, Joey, Run _bit to the "superman kiss".

Then and there she made the decision to keep her little affair from her fiancé. Rachel liked to think that she was a good enough actress to hide it; for a while at least. She was lonely and she was in love. That should be enough, right? Rachel sincerely hoped so, because she didn't plan on stopping her adulterous activities with Jesse St. James any time in the near future.

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**I really hope you all enjoyed it! Don't forget to review! I'd really appreciate your thoughts! :)**


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